My Dog Has Eaten Rat Bait

[kalah]

I have a dog who at 8 months old ate god knows how many throw packs of rat bait.

I found Bella one morning and she couldn't stand, was crying etc and her breath was ice cold. Gums had no colour and I had no idea what was wrong with her so did a rush job into the vets who told me they thought it was rat bait however I was puzzled because we don't use any (hate the stuff)

Quick phone call to the owners of the property (we were renting at the time) and was told that unbeknown to us while we were out, the owners had come and put rat bait into their storage shed in our yard that weekend. They also told me that they seen Bella running in the shed with one of their Labs playing with one of the packets but thought they had dropped it.

Long story short - She had 3 blood transfusions, vitamin k injections etc and a week in at the vets and somehow managed to pull through! She was on tablets for 2 months after.

Needless to say we moved out soon after and also made them pay for her vet bill!

Owner learnt a lesson too - at my advise they took their lab to the vets to test for clotting and turned out it had ate some also. Their dog was on vitamin K for a month.

[daccydog]

Thanks again everyone for your kind wishes

Vet still thinks she's ok with the injection vit K, and without vit K tabs ?, Just rest and a watchful eye on her , It may have helped that she did pass a chuck of the stuff in her poo on sunday morning

DD

[LizT]

As stated rest is very important for the next two weeks, as this is the telling time for internal bleeding. No vigourous excerise or games and be very observant of any discharges from ears, mouths and other orifices.

Hopefully your Vet is familiar with the treatment for the particular brand of Rat poision and all will be fine.

Healing Vibes for your dog.

[Mystiqview]

Dog eats rat bait = Straight to the vet. Simple. No if's or but's. It concerns me when people choose to come onto a forum rather than going straight to the vet.

However: you need to also consider this:

If pellets are being used, rats will not only just eat them where you put them, but in fact take them back to the nest. You can also find the pellets some distance away from where you (or your neighbours) laid them down. Even after months after laying baits, they can still be around as the rats will stockpile them.

It contains a blood thinner similar to wolferin, which is used to treat humans. It prevents the blood from clotting. The danger is, the dog can hit against something and bleed to death internally.

As for what attracts them, I believe one of the attractant ingredients is something similar to Linseed oil.

Some vets will give the dog something to induce vomiting to hopefully remove excess bait from the stomach. I know some baits also contain another ingredient which does make the treatment different. So it is important to know if possible what bait was used.

In saying this, I hope your dog is ok.